CT Counseling Techniques & Interventions 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A child aged 7 is struggling to understand their grandmother's death. Which developmental concept should guide the counselor's approach?
- Children this age fully understand death's permanence and irreversibility
- Children may not yet fully grasp all four components of death concept: irreversibility, universality, non-functionality, and causality (Correct answer)
- Children aged 7 grieve identically to adults
- Play therapy is contraindicated for school-age children
Correct answer: Children may not yet fully grasp all four components of death concept: irreversibility, universality, non-functionality, and causality
By age 7, children are developing but may not yet fully master all four components of the death concept, requiring concrete and developmentally appropriate explanations.
Question 2: Which intervention is specifically designed to help bereaved children externalize and process grief through creative expression?
- Cognitive processing therapy
- Art therapy and sandtray therapy (Correct answer)
- EMDR intensive protocol
- Prolonged exposure therapy
Correct answer: Art therapy and sandtray therapy
Art therapy and sandtray therapy allow children to externalize internal grief experiences through symbolic and creative expression.
Question 3: When counseling an adolescent who lost a peer to suicide, which intervention specifically addresses contagion risk?
- Encouraging the teen to post tributes on social media
- Safe messaging guidelines and postvention protocols (Correct answer)
- Detailed exploration of the suicide method
- Group discussions about reasons for living without structure
Correct answer: Safe messaging guidelines and postvention protocols
Postvention protocols using safe messaging guidelines reduce suicide contagion risk among surviving peers following a peer suicide.
Question 4: A thanatologist uses the 'two-chair technique' with a bereaved client. What is the primary therapeutic goal?
- To practice relaxation in different seated positions
- To facilitate dialogue between two conflicting aspects of self or between the client and the deceased (Correct answer)
- To assess posture and physical comfort during sessions
- To demonstrate proper grief support positioning
Correct answer: To facilitate dialogue between two conflicting aspects of self or between the client and the deceased
The two-chair technique, from Gestalt therapy, facilitates unfinished business by enacting dialogue between the client and the deceased or between conflicting internal voices.
Question 5: Which approach to meaning reconstruction after loss is most associated with Robert Neimeyer?
- Stage model grief counseling
- Narrative therapy and meaning-making in grief (Correct answer)
- Behavioral activation for depression
- Psychodynamic interpretation of loss
Correct answer: Narrative therapy and meaning-making in grief
Robert Neimeyer's constructivist approach focuses on narrative identity reconstruction and meaning-making following loss.
Question 6: A client experiencing disenfranchised grief after the death of an ex-spouse asks why they feel unable to grieve openly. The counselor should first:
- Confirm their grief is not legitimate since the marriage ended
- Validate their loss and explain the concept of disenfranchised grief (Correct answer)
- Refer them to a divorce recovery group instead
- Encourage them to keep their grief private to avoid social judgment
Correct answer: Validate their loss and explain the concept of disenfranchised grief
Validating the loss and psychoeducation about disenfranchised grief helps clients understand why their grief lacks social recognition and permission.
Question 7: When assessing suicide risk in a bereaved client, which factor most significantly elevates concern?
- Expressing sadness about the loss
- Identifying with the deceased and expressing a wish to join them (Correct answer)
- Crying during sessions
- Reporting vivid dreams about the deceased
Correct answer: Identifying with the deceased and expressing a wish to join them
Identifying with the deceased and expressing a wish to join them is a serious warning sign requiring immediate safety assessment and intervention.
CT Counseling Techniques & Interventions 3
A child aged 7 is struggling to understand their grandmother's death.
Which developmental concept should guide the counselor's approach?